Tevun Krus #127 - Best of 2024

Gliese - A Story by @elveloy

Gliese

By elveloy

Prompt: "Come to Gliese," they said. "Be part of humanity's greatest adventure." That was before we found out what can go wrong with terraforming. But the worst part came later (prompted by jinnis)

I woke with a mouth as dry as dust, a throbbing headache and eyes glued shut. What had happened? Where was I? Who was I? My brain felt thick and sluggish, struggling to make sense of things. Even more alarming was the fact that when I tried to rub my eyes, my arm wouldn't obey. I couldn't move. Before I could slide into full blown panic, someone spoke.

"Just be patient," murmured a low mechanical voice. A damp cloth wiped over my face, removing several layers of gunk.

"You've been in cryosleep, Stella. Congratulations! You've survived the process, but it's going to take some time before you recover from the effects."

Stella! My name was Stella. Images flashed back and forth in my head, random and seemingly unconnected. A woman's face. A picture of a red planet that wasn't Mars, and certainly wasn't Earth. A seductive voice inviting, "Come to Gliese! Be part of humanity's greatest adventure!" Gliese?

A straw was slipped between my lips and I tried to suck. A few drops dribbled into my mouth. Blessed water.

"Just lie still for the moment and try and relax," the voice continued. "I'm going to give you another shot." I felt the prick in my arm, even before the voice had finished. "This may sound odd under the circumstances, but try and get some sleep. You'll feel much better when you wake up."

To my surprise, I did manage to drift off. Though why I should be tired after what must have been a few centuries of unconsciousness, I didn't know.

The next time I woke, the robot was right. I did feel much better. For a start I could open my eyes. I was still lying in the cryo-capsule but the lid was raised and I could look around the vast chamber, filled with row upon row of capsules like mine. Robots moved from one to the next, tending to the occupants. There must be several hundred of us. One thousand and fifty to be precise. The number popped into my head, a memory from the briefing I had attended before the flight. I noticed some of the capsules remained with lids closed and I wondered how many of us had failed to survive the journey.

I swallowed.

How many years had passed? To me it felt like only a day or two since I climbed aboard the shuttle, to be transported up to the spaceship Nova Ark, but I knew centuries must have passed. Everyone I had known on Earth would be long dead, and their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Despite the fact that I had been desperate for a complete break from my previous life, and from Max in particular, it was still a sobering reflection.

Two sleep cycles later, I had regained most of my mobility, if not my fitness. That would take more than a few brisk walks around the ship.

They had waited until Nova Ark was only days from our destination before rousing us, just enough time to allow us to regain sufficient strength to function, but we would have to wait until we were on the surface to regain muscle mass.

I had seen images of Gliese before we left Earth, but nothing had prepared me for the sight of it, live on the viewscreen. A majestic orb, reddish brown in colour with wisps of white cloud wrapping around it. Terrestrial planets accessible from Earth were few in number, and those which had the basics to sustain life—atmosphere, water and oxygen—even rarer.